The clinic represented Ivan Ocon, a veteran from Las Cruces, New Mexico who served six years in the U.S. Army and deployed to Jordan in connection with Operation Iraqi Freedom, in his petition for military naturalization and application for humanitarian parole.
Mr. Ocon was deported to Mexico in 2016 due to a criminal conviction that under subsequent Supreme Court precedent no longer barred his naturalization. For years after his deportation, he served his community in Mexico as a leader of the Deported Veterans Support House and various other organizations devoted to community development and veterans’ issues. Along with his applications, filed in 2021, Mr. Ocon submitted numerous letters of support from individuals and organizations he has supported for years, including from the AFL-CIO.
In addition, with the assistance of co-counsel at The Law Office of Lynn Coyle, Mr. Ocon successfully petitioned for a writ of audita querela or coram nobis to vacate his firearms conviction, an offense that might otherwise have barred his return. In 2022, a federal court in Texas granted his petition, issued a writ, and vacated the conviction. Ocon v. United States, 2022 WL 980642 (W.D.Tex. Mar. 31, 2022). Within months, Mr. Ocon returned to his family and friends in the United States and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, never again at risk of deportation.
Mr. Ocon’s case is one of many. Hundreds of veterans—despite their enormous sacrifices—have been deported after serving in the military. His case is a reminder that to honor their service and sacrifice, the current administration must act affirmatively to repatriate deported veterans.
Selected Legal Documents
Opinion and Order Granting Writ and Vacating Conviction (Mar. 31, 2022)
Petition for Writs of Audita Querela and Coram Nobis (November 12, 2021)
Selected Media Coverage
Algernon D’Ammassa, Welcome home: deported veteran from Las Cruces takes citizenship oath, Las Cruces Sun-News (July 15, 2022)
Marisol Chávez, Deported Army vet becomes naturalized US citizen, El Paso Matters (July 12, 2022)
Reyes Mata III, Veteran who was deported for felony just wants to come home, Albuquerque Journal (November 21, 2021)
Anastasiya Bolton, Deported veteran files for U.S. citizenship with the help of Yale law clinic, KENS5 (Nov. 1, 2021)
Algernon D’Ammassa, ‘I lost everything’: Deported Army veteran from Las Cruces petitions for return home, Las Cruces Sun-News (Sept. 22, 2021)
Jennifer Orth-Veillon, “I Never Left Anybody” – Fighting for Veterans Left Behind by the Country They Served, The War Horse (Sept. 23, 2021)